Dear students, This is a short introductory module on the material we are going to work with, the way we are going to work by during the following sessions, the reason/s why we are going to do all these things and what is expected of each and every one of us from the involvement in this joint effort. First and foremost, you are all students in the second class of Senior high school or the 11th grade, if we talk in terms of the American Education system. This means a lot of things like:
The majority of you have already taken you FCE or CPE exams or else finished the B2 level of English studies. There is urgent need to sustain your existing knowledge and take it a bit further by using English as much as you can. Consequently, active participationin speaking and writing activities as well as in computer assisted assignments is expected to give you enough practice with reception, production and thinking skills.
Feeling bored rigid or even fed-up are common signs of a pointless, repetitive and tedious experience in which you find little meaning and sense. In order for a lesson to make sense, it should be relevant to your needs and interests. Also it should serve some useful purpose/s. This is the main goal of this educational material: to be meaningful and useful, away from past clichés on education.
Up to this stage in your education, you have been given few chances of working together with your classmates, while exchanging opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, examining a subject from different perspectives, working out solutions to a problem and many other things people do when they team up and decide to endorse common goals. For this reason, new skills will be developed and practised to achieve the best possible results. Some of the benefits to gain in the process will be improved relationships and a better classroom atmosphere, more relaxed and joyful. Another benefit will be improved performance in your future professional environment, where you will be called on to collaborate with colleagues in order to carry out common projects and solve problems. Learning to do it from an early age will provide you with an important asset in the future. As this is considered an important aspect of this course, a 'Group work' page planned to host relevant resources has been created. The page has been divided in two sections, corresponding to two separate sessions. The first part relates to rules laid up to serve the best interest of participants in pair and group work activities. The second part includes videos and links pertaining to the development of good discussion skills. Learning to function as an active listener and an effective conversationalist are two of this educational course's underlying aims. The page will be often visited and refreshed, constituting it as a common point of reference for all of us.
Finally, you are a part of the so called multi-media generation, growing up in a networked environment, filled with needs and demands related to networked technology. In this digital, hi-tech world, information access and processing are not the same as they used to be for preceding age groups. Consequently, your media skills should be developed so as to serve your future needs both in the academic field of your choice as well as in the career domain. Except for learning to create and post content on this wiki, commenting on the posts of others and making use of web 2.0 tools, there are pages here to help you with other aspects of online learning.
The Netiquette page has been created with a view to offering valuable resources and tips on proper attitude while discussing and posting online.
The Copyrights and Licenses page has been added in order to provide significant information about legal rights and responsible use or reuse of own and others' published material.
The Dictionary page has been created with the aim to serve a number of purposes like vocabulary expansion and development of research and writing skills. For example, you can use it to locate synonyms for a word you don't know, example sentences or create web words and quizzes.
The Useful tools page has been comprised so as to provide a list of all the tools that have been used in the relevant sessions as well as a short review about each one of them for good use.
Regarding the use of a wiki as a virtual space for our course, I have opted for the specific platform in order to:
make it easier for you to fulfill some tasks while expanding your learning outside the classroom walls
provide useful tips and guidance on the procedure instantly
increase existing learning time
make useful digital resources available to everybody
facilitate collaboration and enhance collaboration skills through pre planned activities.
encourage the use of digital material and help you familiarize with certain web 2.0. tools embedded in the platform. They are free, safe and convenient to use, as no registration, no personal data or fees are expected.
About the wiki, I have created a separate page which we will explore together. The content is mostly in Greek so that your parents and any of you with difficulties in comprehending more advanced content in English (in case English is not their preferred language) can take a look at and explore the usefulness and value of a wiki’s use in education. Also, there is additional material in English, such as videos, a mind map, a quiz, and a ppt presentation with a view to aiding you gain more insight into the matter. Finally, there is a video, in the 'Student's corner' page, giving tips on how to log in and use a wiki for the first time. To start with, there is a pre-assessment questionnaire hosted on a separate page. The data analysis will help with the planning, application and reflection part of the present as well as of oncoming educational material. So, it would help if all of you completed it. At a later stage, a final evaluation questionnaire should be filled in, so as to provide us with valuable feedback about how the procedure evolved and what should be done differently next time. Also, there is a separate page named student's corner. The content hosted in this page will help you a lot with using the digital tools suggested in the various session pages as well as dealing with other types of challenges. For example, you will have to post content on a padlet wall as an assignment for Session 1. There is a video from 'youtube' giving tips on how to do it successfully, if you are a fresher. As this wiki will be used by teachers and students alike, there is a 'Teacher's corner' page comprising material mainly addressed to English teachers, which will be refreshed at regular intervals. You are welcome to take a look if you think you will be able to spot something useful.
[Glitterfy.com - *Glitter Words*]
This is a short introductory module on the material we are going to work with, the way we are going to work by during the following sessions, the reason/s why we are going to do all these things and what is expected of each and every one of us from the involvement in this joint effort.
First and foremost, you are all students in the second class of Senior high school or the 11th grade, if we talk in terms of the American Education system. This means a lot of things like:
Up to this stage in your education, you have been given few chances of working together with your classmates, while exchanging opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, examining a subject from different perspectives, working out solutions to a problem and many other things people do when they team up and decide to endorse common goals. For this reason, new skills will be developed and practised to achieve the best possible results. Some of the benefits to gain in the process will be improved relationships and a better classroom atmosphere, more relaxed and joyful. Another benefit will be improved performance in your future professional environment, where you will be called on to collaborate with colleagues in order to carry out common projects and solve problems. Learning to do it from an early age will provide you with an important asset in the future.
As this is considered an important aspect of this course, a 'Group work' page planned to host relevant resources has been created. The page has been divided in two sections, corresponding to two separate sessions. The first part relates to rules laid up to serve the best interest of participants in pair and group work activities. The second part includes videos and links pertaining to the development of good discussion skills. Learning to function as an active listener and an effective conversationalist are two of this educational course's underlying aims.
The page will be often visited and refreshed, constituting it as a common point of reference for all of us.
Finally, you are a part of the so called multi-media generation, growing up in a networked environment, filled with needs and demands related to networked technology. In this digital, hi-tech world, information access and processing are not the same as they used to be for preceding age groups. Consequently, your media skills should be developed so as to serve your future needs both in the academic field of your choice as well as in the career domain.
Except for learning to create and post content on this wiki, commenting on the posts of others and making use of web 2.0 tools, there are pages here to help you with other aspects of online learning.
Regarding the use of a wiki as a virtual space for our course, I have opted for the specific platform in order to:
About the wiki, I have created a separate page which we will explore together. The content is mostly in Greek so that your parents and any of you with difficulties in comprehending more advanced content in English (in case English is not their preferred language) can take a look at and explore the usefulness and value of a wiki’s use in education. Also, there is additional material in English, such as videos, a mind map, a quiz, and a ppt presentation with a view to aiding you gain more insight into the matter. Finally, there is a video, in the 'Student's corner' page, giving tips on how to log in and use a wiki for the first time.
To start with, there is a pre-assessment questionnaire hosted on a separate page. The data analysis will help with the planning, application and reflection part of the present as well as of oncoming educational material. So, it would help if all of you completed it. At a later stage, a final evaluation questionnaire should be filled in, so as to provide us with valuable feedback about how the procedure evolved and what should be done differently next time.
Also, there is a separate page named student's corner.
The content hosted in this page will help you a lot with using the digital tools suggested in the various session pages as well as dealing with other types of challenges. For example, you will have to post content on a padlet wall as an assignment for Session 1. There is a video from 'youtube' giving tips on how to do it successfully, if you are a fresher.
As this wiki will be used by teachers and students alike, there is a 'Teacher's corner' page comprising material mainly addressed to English teachers, which will be refreshed at regular intervals. You are welcome to take a look if you think you will be able to spot something useful.